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This film captures truth about energy and delivers its message with passion. “Public understanding of energy is very low. Energy education is vital.” That’s past AAPG president and newly-named AAPG Honorary member Scott Tinker, who helped create and narrates the film “Switch,” a non-partisan, non-advocacy documentary about the world’s energy needs, on why he thought the project was necessary.

In many environmental areas, it seems the energy industry is often on the defensive and is forced to react to real or perceived environmental issues rather than employ forethought to anticipate the majority of issues that might arise from energy-related activities.

After many months of harnessing mind-bending ideas, a Houston-based team of engineers, geologists and geophysicists has developed technology to monitor hydraulic fractures from the surface and wellbore simultaneously. Adding multiple dimensions to the monitoring process, they say, allows operators to more clearly understand drainage patterns of hydrocarbons in shale reservoirs and, more importantly, know with greater certainty where to drill the next well, how to optimize completions and maximize asset value.

Shale gas and associated hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has become a hot-button environmental issue in the United States and around the world. The purpose of this talk is to provide some background geological and engineering information on the issue and to take a more in-depth look at some of the environmental pros and cons of shale gas development.

Jeannette Wolak, an AAPG member and assistant earth sciences professor at Tennessee Tech University, decided that some experience with seismic was essential for students considering a career in oil and gas.

U.S. energy production, especially oil and natural gas from shale, is booming and expected to continue to grow. Consequently, this bounty is pushing up energy exports – including coal that is displaced by natural gas in power generation – and refined products that are not regulated.